Hello Dolly

Recent reviewers give it five stars, calling it a nostalgic bit of WordPress history and a handy example for learning plugin code, with the occasional complaint about it shipping pre-installed now mostly in the past.

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.

wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.

8 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 5 listed. 3 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words).

Directory rank

wp.org popularity rank over time · lower is better

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 93% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Crossed into this band 9 months ago; the previous band took 24 months to cross, which places it about 61% of the way through.

1. ★★★★★ mikelane

   9mo ago

   This standalone PHP script delivers the classic Hello Dolly lyrics.It’s the classic Hello Dolly, one file, no plugin, pure tribute to the legend. <?php /** * Hello Dolly - Minimalist Standalone with Fade-in */ function hello_dolly_get_lyric() { $lyrics = "Hello, Dolly Well, hello, Dolly It's so nice to have you back where you belong You're lookin' swell, Dolly I can tell, Dolly You're still glowin', you're still crowin' You're still goin' strong We feel the room swayin' While the band's playin' One of your old favourite songs from way back when So, take her wrap, fellas Find her an empty lap, fella Dolly'll never go away again Hello, Dolly Well, hello, Dolly It's so nice to have you back where you belong You're lookin' swell, Dolly I can tell, Dolly You're still glowin', you're still crowin' You're still goin' strong We feel the room swayin' While the band's playin' One of your old favourite songs from way back when Golly, gee, fellas Find her a vacant knee, fellas Dolly'll never go away Dolly'll never go away Dolly'll never go away again"; $lyrics = explode("\n", $lyrics); return htmlspecialchars(trim($lyrics[mt_rand(0, count($lyrics) - 1)])); } $chosen = hello_dolly_get_lyric(); ?> <!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <title>Hello Dolly</title> <style> body { display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; height: 100vh; margin: 0; background-color: #fafafa; font-family: serif; color: #333; } #dolly { font-size: 2rem; text-align: center; padding: 0 20px; opacity: 0; animation: fadeIn 2s ease-in forwards; } @keyframes fadeIn { from { opacity: 0; transform: translateY(10px); } to { opacity: 1; transform: translateY(0); } } .refresh-hint { position: fixed; bottom: 20px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 0.8rem; color: #999; text-decoration: none; } </style> </head> <body> <div id="dolly"> <?php echo $chosen; ?> </div> <a href="?" class="refresh-hint">Refresh for more lyrics</a> </body> </html>

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ shadowheezy

   1.0y ago

   Hello Dolly might be simple, but it’s iconic. Every time I open my WordPress dashboard and see a lyric from Louis Armstrong’s “Hello, Dolly!” it’s a small reminder of WordPress’s roots — creativity, simplicity, and a touch of joy. It doesn’t do much, and that’s the beauty of it. It’s a little piece of nostalgia that connects every WordPress user to the spirit of open-source community and fun. Thanks for keeping this classic alive!

   Read on wp.org ↗
3. ★★★★★ manideep makkina

   1.3y ago

   “Easy to install, worked perfectly. Helped me learn WordPress plugin structure

   Read on wp.org ↗
4. ★★★★★ TapSuccess

   1.5y ago

   In the past, I have deleted this plugin. Now I am learning how to make plugins…. I like it! Thanks, Matt

   Read on wp.org ↗
5. ★★★★★ dimkiriakos

   2.2y ago

   Even many people give a lot of hate to this plugin, they should not! This plugin is not something that it’s useful your site operations, but it’s a nice boilerplate for people that they want to start building plugins for WordPress. It shows that you don’t need to write so much code to customize something in your WordPress app. It introduces the wptexturize function the get_user_locale, the admin_notices action hook and the admin_head action hook too. Yes it’s not the mode elegant thing that comes. But it can be educational for beginners This topic was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by dimkiriakos.

   Read on wp.org ↗
6. ★★★★★ foreverozone

   2.3y ago

   My WP account was hacked. Deleted. Found this was added to my website. Not funny to me. This topic was modified 2 years ago by foreverozone. This topic was modified 2 years ago by foreverozone. This topic was modified 2 years ago by foreverozone.

   Read on wp.org ↗
7. ★★★★★ duca22446688

   2.5y ago

   what a wonderful world!

   Read on wp.org ↗
8. ★★★★★ strahoten

   2.5y ago

   naysayers cannot optimise web sites This topic was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by strahoten.

   Read on wp.org ↗

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.0.16 · WP 5.2.1

Translated into 61 languages, 57 at 90% or more

Plus 37 more locales with partial translations.

Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.

Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

1. 2026-01-29 700K+ → 600K+ down after 707 days in tier
2. 2024-02-22 800K+ → 700K+ down after 1482 days in tier
3. 2020-02-01 900K+ → 800K+ down after 150 days in tier
4. 2019-09-04 1M+ → 900K+ down after 611 days in tier
5. 2018-01-01 100K+ → 1M+ up after 31 days in tier
6. 2017-12-01 1M+ → 100K+ down

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Drop a live Pulse card for Hello Dolly into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

Hello Dolly: 600K+ active installs, 4.4★ (177 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/hello-dolly